Iluvhorses

Thanks! Downloading the new version worked, I can see my people!

Ok, great. I'll try it out later when I'm home. Hopefully that will do the trick Thanks!

I think the most recent I have is version 1.2. If I download 1.2.1, it won't mess up my registration, will it?

Hello everyone. I just re-started playing BOA afresh on a new computer (new party and everything), and am currently still in the tutorial (have to be...). But I noticed that when my party is outdoors I can see them fine, but when they're in a town, nuttin'. I can only see the squares lit up that they're standing on. I have a MacBook, bought it about a year and a half ago. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks

I got it to work! I decided to download ResEdit and use that instead, and it worked this time. It was ResFool's problem, it wasn't working at all with ResFool for some reason, even though it says in the editor manual that you can use ResFool. Anyway,thanks for your help guys, it works now!!!

Yup, things are named properly. It's actually .cmg.rsrc (i'm using ResFool), but the names are correct. Could the .rsrc be the problem?

I reduced it to about 112K and still got the error message.

It already is 8-bit. Ok, I reduced the size just to see if the 530k was what my problem was. I kept getting an error message when i would try to enter the scenario. Error message is: Error! The game just failed to load this graphic: sheet 550, icon 0. the editor might have run out of memory but more likely the graphic it was trying to find wasn't there. What did I do wrong? I even numbered it 500 and it still didn't work. I have the cmg file in the scenario file, and I have the resource number in the field for intro text, so... could it be because I haven't actually designed anything for the scenario yet?

Thanks guys I've figured out how to do it, but I do have another slight problem. The picture that I want to use, although it's 406x450, it's also about 530K. Is there anyway I can make it smaller without making the picture look smaller??? I was looking at the VoDT's cmg files, and the pics are like 73k, 40k, and yet they look bigger than my picture.

Ok, I'm slightly confused and I'm just starting LOL. I've been reading up on how to put in pictures for the intro text and I have a couple of questions. 1. What are sheets?? 2. How do I find out if a picture I want to use is at 72 dpi and if it's 8 or 16 bit? I've been trying but can't find any such info on the picture.

I really like that! I will change, however, the unicorn leader dying of old age. I've done a lot of research into unicorn legends and unicorns can only be killed, not die of natural causes. It has also been said that the actual removal of an alicorn would kill the unicorn. So I was thinking that the unicorn leader, believing that he/she is helping the girl, willing gives up his/her alicorn knowing that it will kill him/her. The rest I will use, if you don't mind. Thank you for your help. Sorry I was getting a bit frustrated. I just was being told different things at different times by different people and was getting confused. My intro pages into the game will explain a lot of the unicorn lore to the player: alicorn potions, how unicorns die, the curse of killing a unicorn, etc.... Also, if there are pictures i want to use in the intro pages, how do I do that??? Now, to start designing. oh boy, it's gonna take a while (school starts in a week and a half).

Quote: originally written bye *I Seems VERY cliched and we are back to a "mwa, ha, ha!" style villain with shallow motive. Well, you were the one to initially suggest the blood drinking, but I've scratched that idea anyway. Quote: originally written by Kelandon Moral dilemmas are not required for a good scenario. Yours may not need it. How so? Please enlighten me. I started with something simple, which is what I was initially told was all I needed: unicorn is dying, bad mage is killing unicorn, kill bad mage, save unicorn, get reward. Alright, I admit, the bad mage does need some sort of a motive other than "fwah ha ha". So then I'm told, make it moral (or political) dilemma, someone must die in the end, no happy ending either way. Look guys - I'm a girl. I like unicorns. I wanted to make my first scenario about something i like, especially since i'm extremely new to avernumscript. I like fantasy, and I also like happy endings. All three are what I get for being a girl. So can someone please tell me how I can make a convincing scenario about unicorns that isn't corny(aka girly or cinderella-like), that is simple to make, that has some sort of a happy ending, and that people will actually want to play. That's all I'm asking. I'm going to stick with the sick child ruse, but beyond that I'm clueless. Also - I'm planing on naming the scenario "Amari's Love", Amari being the unicorn leader who is dying. Perhaps that might help in the suggestions area.

Quote: -You could always go with the old "Mage wants near-eternal life from drinking unicorn blood" plot device, and stick with the sick daughter being a ploy. Or heck, it'd be better if the daughter really was there, and the mage was just using her as a way to increase his own power. I like this one. What I'm going to do is the daughter is real, but not sick. Mage has her locked in her room and drugged so that you believe she is sick. Unicorn leader sacrifices his life for hers, you get reward and the promise that the child will be healed. Next day daughter wakes up from drugs (unfortunately for the mage) and sends you a mental call. You meet her and find out that the real mage is her and that she's not a child - her father is a fake, learned the unicorn killing spell from her and wants the immortality bit from drinking unicorn's blood - the blood of the one that just died. He wants to do that then capture all the other unicorns and take their blood as well. You kill "mage", and you get rewards. EDIT: I wrote this before I saw some of the previous posts - so scratch this idea, at least the last half of it

*sigh* - I see your point. If they all lived happily ever after there would be no point to the scenario. How about the mage believes that a unicorn must die to cure his daughter. His research has led to tell him so. The unicorns, when party tells them of situation, says otherwise. The unicorns say that it's much simpler than that. Unicorns don't lie, so you believe them. When confronted with this the mage won't believe you and in a fit of rage born out of desperation he attacks you and you are forced to kill him. The unicorns then cure the child with an elixir made from alicorn shavings. However for killing the mage you are banished from the town forever. Or..... It really is that the unicorn must die in order to save the girl. You either kill the mage, save the unicorn, and let the girl die; kill the unicorn and save the girl. Or...... Again, the unicorn must die to save the girl and the unicorn who is dying realizes that the life of this child is more important than his and sacrifices his life for her. The unicorns are greatly saddened, but you earn their respect, plus you receive an award from the mage plus experience. (a little weak, i know, but it's an idea) Or...... The "my child is sick" is a lie to get your help. You never even see the child but believe the mage nonetheless. Unicorn sacrifices his life for life of child, you get a reward from mage.....then, just before you leave you hear a cry inside your head and realize the unicorns are asking for help again, but you don't know why (or perhaps you meet mage's daughter who has been locked up this whole time and she tells you what her father is really after). You follow the cry and find that now with the unicorn leader dead the Empire has captured the unicorns. They intend to keep the unicorns in prison, and each time there's a battle one unicorn will be killed the heal the empire soldiers. The ringleader of this, of course, is the mage. You kill mage and gain eternal gratitude of unicorns, as well as some nature appropriate reward.

Quote: Demons or no, that's incredibly lame. I mean, what's a villain like that going to say to the party- "Fwuahahahaha!"? (Not that the villain has to spill his motives, but most villains should at least have some.) Ok - gotcha. I've got some ideas brewing. How's this?: Party is on way to town to be mage's apprentice. Unicorns ask party for help. Party asks mage. Mage lies and says nothing can be done - mage is also bad tempered for some reason. Party finds book on magic containing spell to kill unicorns. Party confronts mage. Mage has dying daughter - only cure alicorn elixir, feels best to kill first, capture later. Dilemma is here: Kill mage-cure unicorn-let child die(or is healed by unicorn but is now fatherless); help mage-kill unicorn-child lives-unicorns hate you forever; get unicorns to help mage and nobody dies.

Quote: The idea isn't a bad one (other than I don't know what an alicorn is, though that might be my fault). But who is this mage? Why is he doing this? Is he just generally evil? Here's an idea- why not have the mage who wants the alicorns want to heal innocents? Let's say that he has a child whose disease can only be cured with the alicorn elixirs you speak of, or maybe he just wants to supply the Empire with these things to cure their mortally wounded. He'd be a much more believable villain, a much more convincing one, and the party would have a moral dillema- Kill the mage and let many innocent people die, or kill the unicorn leader and let many innocent people die. (Or just leave the valley, in which case the unicorn leader dies anyway.) Alicon is the proper term for the unicorn's one horn. I like your suggestion about the moral dilemma thing - kill a bunch of innocent people or a bunch of innocent unicorns - works good. What about he wants to sell the elixirs or alicorns to make a profit (sell to the Empire, maybe the Empire hired him to do this??)? Or perhaps he's just evil and hates unicorns for the good that they represent and wants to be rid of them? (don't worry, I'm not going to use a demon) I do like the moral dilemma with the sick child thing, but I might wait on that till I have a bit more experience at this, and time (I start school in less than two weeks).

I am interested in designing a BOA scenario. One problem - I don't have a story idea. I do know that I want it to involve unicorns some how, but i don't want to copy the unicorn thing that was done in the Za Khazi Run. Ooh just came up with an idea, it's small but (i'm gonna steal a bit of the plot from a book series called Diadem - i know the author): Party is travelling and stops to rest for the night. During the night they are woken up by a unicorn asking for their help. Unicorn tells party that the leader of their herd is dying but they don't know why and the unicorns have tried everything but leader is still dying. Party discovers that a rogue mage/sorcerer wants to have control of the herd of unicorns only to harvest their alicorns - somehow he's killing the leader(haven't figured that out yet). Party kills rogue mage/sorcerer. Party gets antidote and cures unicorn leader and saves the day. Not sure what to reward them with other than super healing elixirs made from ground alicorn dust. Pleeeease tell me what you think and if this kind of scenario would be feasible. If not, I welcome any ideas for a different scenario. I'm EST.

Quote: originally written by kuc: I'm going to miss going into rooms and doing the following; UPLEFTUPLEFTUPLEFTUPLEFTUP-UPRIGHTUPRIGHTUPRIGHTUPRIGHTUPRIGHT-RIGHTDOWNRIGHTDOWNRIGHTDOWNRIGHTDOWNRIGHTDOWN-DOWNLEFTDOWNLEFTDOWNLEFTDOWNLEFTDOWNLEFT Me too Although, I still find myself doing it in A4 - for old times sake Quote: originally written by chicho1102 So in A4 there is secret passages but their are more like triggered hard to find doors. Creepy, avernum without secret passages is like a party without music!! I agree! I did find one, but I didn't find it by bumping into walls, unfortunately.

Didn't A1 have a way for nature lore or whatever to find secret passages without bashing your head into the wall a dozen times? I'm liking A4 alright so far (I've played a lot more of it since my last post), but I can definitely tell lots of things are missing, as we've all mentioned here. The whole job board thing - I'm not sure if I like that. And besides, they have nothing to do with each other. So far there's really no plot. The intro to the game mentioned about the goblin problem. So I weeded out the goblins in Fort Monastery, found the missing shipments - and that was all that had to do with goblins. So far the only kindof plot I've seen has to do with the dead dragon, motrax, who's lair I've finally found (and then I got butchered, of course) and the mark on the hand. Everything else is kill this creature, go prove yourself at the stone circle (which took me about 5 tries to do, anyway, then I had to pay for the new spells that I "won'), take a letter to this person. Granted I'm still in the demo version (can't afford the full version yet) And why is there no character editor for this game??? Is it because our characters don't actually "die". I do prefer the death as opposed to unconsious. I agree with Duality on that one. I do like the automatic light, it helps. Yeah, and I most definitely prefer the baddies to stay dead when I kill them. No respawning aloud - not a big fan of that. If I go into a cave, kill all them things in there, leave and then realize I was supposed to search for something in the corner of one of those caves, I don't want to have to weed my way through all them again - I'd leave the thing in there with them!!! *i is right about the game can't be completely realistic - otherwise no one would want to play it because they'd always be dying with no hope of resurrection whatsoever. On the flip side it can't be completely unrealistic because it would be boring. That's one of the reasons I like BOA so much because it's right in between those two extremes. Perhaps if A4 had a more substantial plot, things might be a bit more interesting

Thanks, I found it!!!

I can't find the motrax caves. I know they're too the north, but all I can find up there are the mines with those nasty spiceworms, and the dude who's creating the zombies. No motrax lair. Help

I'm still learning.

Good job, well done I'm sure Jeff will like it!

Ok, after reading all of the posts in this string, I agree with everybody in some way. (And before anyone says anything, I do happen to be one of those can't-get-through-a-BOA-scenario-without-asking-for-help kindof people, but I still love playing games). My favorite part about A4 so far, and I've only had the demo for a couple of days, is the 3D graphics they are great! I also like the new automap, inventory screen, the separate quests list, and the map of the country. What I miss is the "look" function, the "e" for end combat, and the outdoors view. It really bugs me that the outdoors view is the same as the town view now. I liked the sound that's usually played when you enter a town in the BOA and A1 games. As for fighting, well - you do get more APs, and you actually see the weapons they're using in hand. However I'm starting to get annoyed with the walk 5 steps, fight a nephil, walk five steps, kill a few more nephils, walk five steps, etc....... Also, before, when you were in a town you had to actually begin a fight with the "combat" command, but in A4 no matter where you are, town or outdoors, the game automatically launches me into combat mode and I have to scroll the screen around to figure out where the enemies are, and sometimes I still can't see them. As for the "quests" so far when I've completed them there really wasn't much satisfaction given. For instance - I had accepted the bring the note to Jenn in Grindstone quest, and when I finally got to Grindstone (had to fight my way there through goblins, took forever), and finally found Jenn, there was no way for me to say: "Hey, I've got this letter for you", "hey thanks, here's your reward". There was nothing, all of a sudden that quest was no longer on my list. I dunno, it just didn't feel worth battling my way to Grindstone for that: granted there was other stuff to do in Grindstone, but still. As for mysteries and puzzles, I'm not far enough into the game yet to miss them, but I probably will miss some of them. Granted, there were times in some of the BOA scenarios that I kept coming to the message board for help, but I'm sure I will miss the "Oh, ok!!!" - whether I was told the answer or I figured it out on my own. Overall, I do like A4. It's got it's pros and cons. It's not my favorite (BOA will always be my fave) but it's a decent game. And speaking of which I'm going to get back to playing it! Either that or dive into another BOA scenario. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!!!

Thanks wz arsenic, it always helps to have an extra pair of eyes look at it to see what I missed. I had some other fixing to do after that, but it works now. And thanks Kelandon for giving me that URL for Alint - I will definitely use it. (besides, it'll probably keep me from bugging you guys for help all the time!) It'll definitely save some time in fixing problems.